


Murphy's Law of Love

by zgs1994



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M, Family Feels, Feels, Fluff and Angst, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:00:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24027775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zgs1994/pseuds/zgs1994
Summary: Where fate – or Sasuke's overweening, pretentious family – drove them apart, but years later, their daughter brings them together again. SasuSaku. BoruSara. AU.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Sarada/Uzumaki Boruto
Comments: 12
Kudos: 62





	1. Chapter 1

Murphy's Law of Love

Summary: Where fate – or Sasuke's overweening, pretentious family – drove them apart, but years later, their daughter brings them together again. SasuSaku. BoruSara. AU.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Sakura has always known that guilt can eat a person alive, but right then, sitting across from the daughter she'd given up seventeen years ago and right next to the man she loves – _loved_ – all that time ago, she'd never truly understood the extent of it.

She can feel it now, gnawing at her from the inside out as Sarada studies her from behind her cat-eye glasses. Feels it coursing through her bloodstream as Sasuke sits immobile in absolute disbelief. Maybe she's always known that this day might come, but even so, she feels severely underprepared for it.

"So," says Sarada. "I suppose it's nice to meet you."  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
The moment Sarada had laid eyes on Haruno Sakura, she'd instinctively known. The way that you know that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The way you know that night falls after the day. The way you know water only flows in one direction. Sarada had immediately known that this was it – this was her birth mother.

She was a chic looking woman of 35 years with Sarada's face and the shape of her eyes, and right at the moment, she was looking as if the ground had fallen from under her feet.

In contrast, Uchiha Sasuke was imitating a rock - silent, stock-still, and motionless; as if all he'd ever known was a lie.

Sarada has seen him in the news before – always calm, always composed, always blunt and to-the-point. But today feels like an exception because as he looks at Sakura (because Sarada refuses, absolutely refuses, to call this woman her mother) he looks just as queasy and lost as she herself had felt not so long ago.

She watches as Sakura steels herself, turns to him, and says, "I can explain."

Immediately, his face transforms from silent disbelief to dark fury. His voice is sharp as he echoes, "You can explain," looking directly at Sakura, intimidating and thunderous.

Sarada feels impressed with his darkly menacing demeanor and refrains from politely interrupting because she, too, wants to hear this explanation.

But she feels even more impressed with Sakura as she says, "Yes, I can explain," in a surprisingly level tone. Sarada feels like this lady sounds deceptively resolute for a woman who gave away her baby – and it seems like: without ever telling the father about it.

Distantly, Sarada feels like both of them are over-dramatizing the situation. They do feel a bit theatrical, and she's not quite in the mood to indulge their melodrama.

Needless to say, she's not at all impressed.

She's worked hard to get these two very important, notoriously busy, and virtually unreachable people here because – well, she was curious and she wants answers. Kakashi and Shizune had never made a secret out of her adoption. They felt proud to have raised a successful, intelligent, and well-adjusted kid and Sarada had loved them enough not to overreach or offend by asking too many questions.

But the thing was, the curiosity never quite went away for an adopted kid. No matter how loved or well-adjusted you became, there was always a tiny, niggling, annoying part of your brain that was constantly running like a hamster on its wheel, going: why'd they let you go? Why'd they let you go? Why the fuck did they let you go?

And now that Sarada was entering university, she'd decided that she wanted to start the next chapter of her life by never, ever, having to think that question again. She wants a clean slate. She wants to start fresh.

Her parents were pragmatic. They weren't overly emotional. When she'd asked, they had smiled their easy smiles and given her exactly what she'd wanted: two birth certificates. The first one that she'd known her entire life. The second one folded in neat quarters that were saggy and greyed with age and felt like they'd never really been opened throughout her life.

"Frankly, I want to hear it too," she says, successfully catching their attention.

Sakura looks a little heartsick while Sasuke still looks skeptical and disbelieving.

"Look," she starts, trying to coax them into letting their guards down. "I know this is totally out of the blue, but I just want to know why you decided to give me up. That's it. Can you do that for me?"

Both of them look absolutely out of their depth, which makes Sarada feel slightly annoyed. "Well?" she prompts.

Sakura has the audacity to guiltily wring her hands and look at her lap.

Sasuke can't stop staring at her.

Sarada can tell that this can go on forever, and she doesn't really have that much time. She has a date with Boruto in an hour, and honestly, just a single look at these people is starting to make her irrationally angry. What the heck, she thinks. Maybe clean slates are overrated.

"You know what," she tells them, gathering her backpack, grabbing her phone, and getting up from her chair. "I guess I actually don't want to know."

Walking around the table, she tries her best to sound flippant. "Let's never see each other again."

She walks away, feeling just the tiniest bit satisfied when they both look completely startled, then dismayed.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Sasuke feels like he's always drawn the short stick in life, but whatever curves life has thrown at him in the past bear no torch to what is happening now.

"You – we – we had – a daughter?" he sputters, the moment Sarada has walked out the restaurant door. All his eloquence, all his decorum, a lifetime worth of etiquette - completely vanishes.

His dignity is out the window and his emotional range is reduced to a very thin thread that is stretched to its limits. He feels like he's going to snap and there's nothing but a giant void of nothingness when the two ends of his intellect finally collide together. It's like his mind has been peeled opened, diced, and scattered into tiny little fragments.

"Yes," Sakura whispers brokenly.

He feels utterly speechless. The world seems to be crashing down around him. Finally, after swallowing a thousand negative reactions and fishing for a calm he doesn't quite feel, he manages to ask, "And you never told me?"

Honestly, he feels like those four little words are a little inadequate, considering that he feels as if a level 8 earthquake is shaking up his entire world at the moment and Sakura's deer-caught-in-headlights look is doing nothing to abate the rising tide of anger inside his chest. He's having difficulty reconciling seventeen years' worth of separation into – into – what – a daughter!? God, he thought, positively reeling from the shock.

It's been seventeen years since him and Sakura were together. He's moved on. He's carved a life for himself. It wasn't supposed to go this way. He tries to hold back, but the rage is right on the heels of the confused consternation he feels. So he finds himself saying, "Did you think so little of me as to believe I'd have left you? That I'd judge you? That I'd – what? Abandon you?"

"No, Sasuke-kun, no!" Sakura immediately assures him, looking deeply anguished. He's disgusted to note that even after all these years, his heart still squeezes painfully to see her in distress.

"Then why?" he thunders, barely aware that the café patrons were now observing the two of them nervously. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

We could have figured it out together, he wants to say, but doesn't.

Sakura's hesitant expression makes him even more furious and he has to close his eyes and take deep breaths to calm himself down. He's deeply annoyed with himself because behind the fury, there's a soft little bud of ardor buried deep within his heart that even the long years apart haven't quite managed to squish away and he wants to stomp on it because right now, she's not Sakura the love of his life, but she's Sakura who'd suddenly, completely vanished from his life without a word and apparently gave away their daughter.

His heart painfully clenches at the last thought. Feeling lightheaded and completely wrong-footed, he pushes her once more because god, suddenly he just wants to know, wants to understand, and just…

"Why?" he asks again, voice cracking at the end, not used to being so defeated and vulnerable and open.  
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sakura knows that Sasuke-kun never really loses enough control to let others see him crumble, but he's doing that right now and it's devastating her heart because she knows – she's always known – that she loves him and will always love him.

Her heart has been breaking steadily since she's seen Sarada and looking at him now – it just immediately shatters into a million little pieces and there's nothing she can do about the tears that prick her eyes. It's been seventeen years. She decides it's beyond time to come clean.

"I – " she starts, stops, sniffles. "You – " she says, floundering for the right words and wiping the tears now steadily falling down her cheeks. She takes a deep breath, feeling humiliated and her throat is working painfully and she, too, is starting to feel angry as she admits the truth. "It was your family," she admits in a thick voice, not willing to sugar-coat it.

It's the most cliché excuse in the world. She knows. But it's her truth. It's the truth that she's lived with for the past seventeen fucking years, and she feels so totally frustrated as he just sits there and looks uncomprehending – as if he couldn't believe her!

So she clamps on to her rage, getting louder and louder as she repeats, "It was your family! Your family! They said they'd never accept – "

"How did they end up knowing when even I didn't?" he asks lowly, cutting her off, looking dark and menacing and she knows that he doesn't believe her at all.

It effectively takes the wind out of her sails and she feels as helpless as a baby as she tells him, "They put a tail on me."

His gaze bores into her for one long infinite moment and she holds it as steadfastly as she can, but she can tell that he still doesn't believe her because he looks away, scoffs, and gets up to stalk out of the café.

She feels absolutely destitute, then exasperated as she follows him. "You were interning at the company!" she calls after him, adamant about making him listen because god, after all these years he owed her at least that. She felt ridiculous trying to keep up with his long strides in her heels – all while yelling her heart out, desperate for him to listen, to believe in her. "I came to tell you! I was taken to your father instead – "

He whirls around and she stumbles back, almost falling on her back before catching herself.

"And you got scared?" he snaps. "You?" he repeats, looking her up and down, almost disdainful.

She feels compelled to defend herself, but she also understands where he's coming from. She'd had – still has – a bit of a volatile personality. But she wants Sasuke to know that Uchiha Fugaku had been an undeterred demon who'd gaslighted his way past her defenses.

"I was eighteen years old and piss poor!" she retaliates, feeling all the more enraged on behalf of her younger self. "My parents ran a street shop! He said he'd take away my scholarship! He said he'd disown you – "

"Don't you dare bring me into it now!" he rages at her.

Her eyes glass over. She swallows. "You're right," she says, forcing herself to be calmer. "But you need to understand – I couldn't have possibly raised her on my own. So I took the best course of action for all of us."

"You should have told me – "

"I know," she agrees, barely holding back the urge to bury her head in her hands and indulge in a crying jag right then and there on the street. "I know, and I'm sorry. But," she continues, "I didn't want her to live through your family's vitriol. I hated them then. I hate them now. They're terrible people. You should know."

To that, he has nothing to say.

And because she has nothing to say either, she walks away.

Of course, he doesn't follow.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
tbc


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Murphy's Law of Love
> 
> Summary: Where fate – or Sasuke's overweening, pretentious family – drove them apart, but years later, their daughter brought them together again. SasuSaku. BoruSara. AU.

"So," Boruto asks, "how'd it go?"

Sarada feels like she must look as dejected as she feels because Boruto is quick to wrap her in a hug. She returns it, holding him tighter.

They're at the park and it's a beautiful sunny day. Everyone seems to be having a good time, which worsens Sarada's ennui. She hugs Boruto tighter and feels comfort in his warmth.

It was actually thanks to Boruto that she even managed to contact Sasuke. Turns out, Uzumaki Enterprise's chairman – Boruto's dad – was both, close friends and business partners with Uchiha Sasuke. And while Boruto's dad wasn't as affluent and didn't have as big a pedigree as the Uchiha's, he had a well-respected business standing with the Uchiha Corp.

Boruto always wanted to venture out on his own so he rarely ever dabbled in his father's business, but the moment Sarada had told him about searching for her parents, and the moment he'd recognized Sasuke's name, he'd been like a rock by her side. When she'd been fretting about how to actually make contact, Boruto was the one who'd reassured her. Like the best boyfriend in the world, he'd stolen Sasuke's personal e-mail for her.

As for Sakura, a basic internet search had given Sarada a fancy place of employment and some pretty amazing credentials. She'd simply written to an official mailing ID and hoped for the best.

"It was stupid of me to try," Sarada says against his chest.

"No way," he tells her adamantly.

"Yes way," she argues, burrowing deeper into his chest.

"No way," Boruto repeats, a weird finality in his tone that makes her feel better.

She sighs, conceding. She loved Boruto. She genuinely did. He'd been a year ahead of her and they'd met at the debate club. Sarada loved arguing. She'd always had this thing where she had to prove that she was always right and apparently, Boruto was the same. They usually debated their topic to death, until even the rest of the club members were either bored or annoyed or lackluster.

At first, Sarada had mistaken the sparks between them as a requited annoyance, and she'd taken the heart-pounding eye-contact as they argued as adrenaline and Boruto always seemed to have developed a reticent, red-looking countenance as they'd debated harder, louder, and bolder. Sarada had naturally assumed that he hated her guts and so she had decided to mutually dislike him as well.

It had taken six months and a ton of misunderstandings for Boruto to finally ask her out and she'd been so thunderstruck that he'd taken it as a rejection. He'd been just about to high-tail it after turning a deep maroon red when she'd impulsively caught his jacket from behind and shyly accepted with an embarrassed yes, surprised to so easily sift through months and months of confusing emotions in a matter of a few seconds. She realizes now that it wasn't as hard because her feelings always simmered to the top whenever he was near.

Now, Boruto is already in University and she was about to graduate. They had far less time to spend together, but the warmth of their relationship was always wrapped around a comfortable friendship. Even when they couldn't meet for days on end, it never felt weird when they talked again.

In fact, one of Sarada's favorite things to do is run into his arms and hug him tight. She can't really compare the happy unfolding of her heart to anything she's ever felt before as he catches her with a grunt and a laugh.

And she appreciates this easy camaraderie now more than ever because she feels if he lets her go, she'd probably let the sheer unhappiness of today's encounter dictate the rest of her day.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

When Sasuke returns to his office, he's still shell shocked.

He feels as if his entire reality has been sent in a tailspin and he's at a loss for what to do. He tries to browse through the paperwork, but his mind's floundering and he can't concentrate.

He sighs, rubs his hands over his face, leans back in his chair and stares at the fancy lights in the ceiling. He lets them blind him for a moment and searches his mind and heart for what to believe.

While on the one hand he's always known that Uchiha Fugaku was a little bit of an asshole, Sasuke just can't imagine him stooping so low. In fact, their relationship had even slightly, minusculey improved before his untimely death from cancer.

No matter how much he tries, Sasuke just can't seem to accept it.

But on the other hand, there's Sakura, who had never, not even once lied to him – until the day she'd suddenly vanished in thin air.

Sasuke still remembers that time. It had been so gradual. Both of them had busy lives of their own and large gaps in communication hadn't been strange. Plus technology had not been as advanced or as far-reaching in their youth. It had taken him a few days to even realize that something was wrong. And even then, he'd tried to shrug it off. When he'd finally started to catch on, he'd tried his best to reach out. He'd simply thought she'd been angry because he'd been inattentive or maybe she was angry at something he'd done wrong. But he could never reach her and parent's shop had been closed when he'd visited. It had never opened there again. She'd taken a semester leave at her university. The house her parents used to rent had been empty as well and as Sasuke's dread had mounted, he'd done everything he could at the time to look for her.

He still gets a sick feeling in the pit of his belly every time he thinks about it.

It occurs to him now that maybe he hadn't tried as hard as he'd thought. Maybe he'd let the anger and the numbness wash over too early. Maybe he should have dug harder instead of blocking out his feelings and trying to move on.

He distracts himself now by unlocking his phone and going through Sarada's email again.

He wonders how she even managed to get his private fucking email.

Dear Mr. Uchiha, it reads. I don't know if you remember, but this Sarada (the kid you put up for adoption back in 2003). I'm not reaching out to play the blame-game, but I do wish I can meet you at least once, if that's alright. And in case you had any more kids you gave away and are wondering which one I might be, I've attached a pic of my original birth certificate (which, btw, thanks for).

See Attachment.

Sasuke remembers how each word had made him more and more confused. Everything had been so nonsensical. He'd been just about to move the ID to spam when something had inspired him to click on the attachment.

Well, it had had his name on it. And Sakura's. For just a few seconds, he'd been stunned beyond belief. His mind had quickly run through thousands of scenarios in the span of a nano-second. Maybe someone was pulling his leg. Maybe someone was trying to dig up his past – for what? Entertainment? Maybe – maybe – someone was playing a convoluted game and trying to worm their way into the Uchiha clan through this farce.

Yes, that one had at least seemed to be the most probable. Sasuke had just been an easy target because he was still unmarried. He'd played with the idea of calling the police – or maybe the Uchiha Corp. personal security service, but there had been a deeply menacing, burning sensation that had developed in the center of his chest and spooled into the rest of his body. His limbs had felt heavy with it. Suddenly, Sasuke had been so furious and so eager to rip this person to shreds himself that he'd decided just to meet them face-to-face.

He'd gotten a bit more than he'd bargained for when he'd seen a teenage girl shuffling nervously around in her seat as she fiddled with her phone. Her face – it had given Sasuke a pause. There was something familiar about it. His steps had faltered. His eyes had refused to wander anywhere else as he'd taken a seat in front of her. She'd looked genuinely startled at that.

And then Sakura had shown up.

He sighs, now. The beat of his heart turns surprisingly quiet at the thought of her.

Unable to focus on work anymore, he pings his secretary.

"Kin," he asks. "I'm forwarding you an email ID. I need a thorough background check on this person."

As always, Kin gives him that imperious look that always gives him a feeling that she doesn't quite like him. But as always, she does what he says anyway.

A background check on the kid does feel a little impulsive, but he doesn't really know what else the universe wants him to do with this information.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Sakura doesn't go back to work. She doesn't really have the mental or emotional capacity to deal with patients and surgeries today. She's shell-shocked and feels condemned but also – surprisingly, she also feels relieved because Sarada's shadow has always been such a constant, haunting part of her life. The baby girl she couldn't keep. The baby girl she gave away.

As she puts in the code to her apartment's electric lock, she feels drained, weary, and a little glad because she knows now that Sarada had made it. She was a good girl. She was the best girl.

Sakura enters her apartment and skillfully maneuvers through the piles and piles of unpacked boxes that are a staple of every home she's ever moved into. She always thinks about unpacking them, but never quite finds the time or the inclination.

She never uses the living room and she rarely, if ever, cooks. Her fridge is always empty save for the essentials – beer cans, wine, and drinking snacks. She moves past them to her bedroom, which is the only part of her house that she's anal about keeping spic and span.

She looks at her bed, takes a deeply tired breath, and unceremoniously flings herself onto the mattress back-first, arms out. She stares at the ceiling and her mind flashes back to the email.

It had been sent to her inquiry address and had it not been for Moegi, her assistant's intuitive intervention, Sakura might never have ended up reading it.

Moegi had been incredibly nervous as she'd called the internal line for her to check the mail – "Just in case," she'd said with an apprehensive little laugh, which and incurred Sakura's curiosity.

She'd felt gobsmacked when she'd actually looked at the sender's ID. It's got to be a joke, she remembered thinking – even praying.

She'd sat in stunned and apprehensive silence for the longest time before finally drawing up the courage to open the mail.

Dear Ms. Haruno, it had read. I don't know if you remember, but this Sarada (the kid you put up for adoption back in 2003). I'm not reaching out to play the blame-game, but I do wish I can meet you at least once, if that's alright. And in case you had any more kids you gave away and are wondering which one I might be, I've attached a pic of my original birth certificate.

See Attachment.

Sakura's eyes had automatically closed in consternation and surprise. She'd fallen back on her chair. She hadn't even had to open the attachment. She'd been the one to give that certificate to Sarada's adoptive parents. It had been a wishful fancy on her behalf, and now it was there, right there, in digital format and forever ingrained in some fucking code and so, so tangible once again.

As the panic had started to set in, she'd found a little nugget of solidness in her heart Through the riot of feelings and anxiety, she'd always been sure about one thing at least.

She was going to meet Sarada.

But even simply thinking about the past few hours now – the past few days – makes Sakura feel sick to her stomach. She's never, ever, not in a million years imagined that she'd meet Sasuke in person again. Seeing him in that café – in front of Sarada – felt like some invisible force had sucker-punched her in the solar plexus. It had taken every ounce of strength in her being not to turn tail and run the fuck out of there.

As the events of the day weigh her down, she scoots to her nightstand and plucks out her emergency Santa Rita Cabernet from the drawer. She stares at it for a moment, feeling a rush of affection for her trusty friend. After all, wine has never let her down before. She plucks out the cork with her bare hands and takes a huge swig from the bottle, then settles more comfortably on her bed, and decides to finally, finally, after almost twenty fucking years, allow herself to indulge in some social media stalking.

She types Sarada's name in the search engine.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

When Sarada comes home, both Kakashi and Shizune are waiting for her. They're not anxious people by nature. In fact, they're surprisingly laid-back, which is why she feels surprised that they'd camp out on the couch on her behalf.

Shizune smiles big as she opens her arms for Sarada to fall in. Immediately, Sarada's ennui vanishes and she smiles tiredly as she accepts the hug. They sway from side to side and Sarada loves the warmth of Shizune's body. It feels like a safe haven against the world and she feels a rush of affection for this woman, so she hugs her tighter.

"How was it?" Kakashi asks, not wearing his mask tonight.

"Oh, god," Sarada says, scowling heavenward. "It was a mess!" she tells them, glad that she feels comfortable sharing these thoughts with them.

"Really, that bad?" Shizune seems surprised. "Sakura seemed like such a nice girl."

"I'm sure she was," Sarada says diplomatically. "But today was a disaster! Sasuke didn't even know that he'd had a baby, so they both had a lot of crap to figure out. It just felt – wrong," she finishes, feeling deflated now.

Shizune just gives her a pursed smile and from across the room, Kakashi looks a little sad on her behalf. "At least you tried. Do you feel better about that?"

Sarada thinks about it. Deep down, she feels like she'd just opened Pandora's box, but since she doesn't want to worry her parents, she says, "I guess."

"That's all that matters, then," Shizune tells her cheerfully. "Now I want you to go to bed and think only nice things."

"I will," Sarada says, already turning to her room. She thinks she'll have nightmares about today's meeting, but maybe if she tries hard enough, she can will her subconsciousness to dream about graduation and university, and Boruto, and Chou Chou and all the other nice things in the world.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

tbc


	3. Chapter 3

**Murphy's Law of Love**

Summary: Where fate – or Sasuke's overweening, pretentious family – drove them apart, but years later, their daughter brought them together again. SasuSaku. BoruSara. AU.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Technically, Sarada was supposed to be eighteen at her graduation, but she'd skipped a grade when she'd started school because Shizune and Kakashi had already taught her the basics. She still remembers sitting in the bathtub as Shizune taught her the basic alphabets. She remembers the cartoon kanji charts. She even remembers the fruit and vegetable charts that hung like posters on her wardrobe.

So here she stands, seventeen years old and totally proud of herself.

"I can't believe we're graduating," says Chou Chou in an awed voice, feeling just as nervous as Sarada as they take their place on the chairs. Sarada grins at her, totally agreeing, and feeling excited because she can't wait to start this next phase of her life.

She cranes her head around to the other side and sees her parents, along with Boruto, who's already looking at her. He'd promised he would skip his classes if he had to, and it makes Sarada's heart flutter to know that he actually had.

He flashes her a quick grin and a thumbs up, which Sarada returns happily.

The introduction ceremony takes place. They sing the national anthem. Sarada receives her graduation certificate. They breeze through introduction messages from guests and students. Finally, they sing the school song and exit.

Outside, the air is brimming with hope and happiness. Everyone is running to their families. Flowers are being exchanged. Sarada feels drunk on contentment and leaves Chou Chou to run into Boruto's arms as soon as she spots him. She laughs as he twirls her around, then throws her arms around Shizune and Kakashi as they present her with flowers.

Then Kakashi breaks out his camera and they all group together for pictures.

It's in the midst of all this celebration that she notes two wilted looking figures trying to merge with the scenery of her school. She can immediately tell who they are and she feels – well, she feels kind of furious.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
A few days before, Sasuke sat in his office, browsing through the file that Kin had compiled for him earlier. He feels an inexplicable bout of something – something very much like an ache – every single time he looks at Sarada's picture – which Kin has very astutely used as the header of her report.

Inside, he finds detailed sections on everything that she might have been able to glean off of social media. It includes all that he might have want to known; from generic things like her high school name, favorite places to hang out, and college to more personal things like a section that contained an analysis of her emotional state of being from various images she's posted on her page to her friends, her boyfriend. Parents.

Sasuke has already browsed through it multiple times and he still feels a little uncomprehending. Reality hasn't quite settled around him yet. He wishes he'd been able to get Sakura's contact information that day because he's itching for answers and she's the only one who can provide them.

God, he thinks incredulously, he has a daughter!

Unable to sleep or eat because everything now feels like ashes in his mouth, he thinks about what to do. He knows that he can just – move on with his life and forget about it. Or he can – maybe talk to his mother and see if she knew what had happened all those years ago. He doesn't quite dare. He considers contacting Sakura, but he doesn't quite have the guts to do that. Not yet.

He takes a deep breath and wills himself to brush all the useless insecurities away. He searches his heart for what he truly wants, and the answer is as clear as day.

He wants to meet her again.

He wants to see Sarada.

He quickly looks through the report again and finds the section titled: Graduation Ceremony. It's typed in size 12 Calibri text format and it's giving him ideas. Like, maybe how he can maybe sneak in and – and – he doesn't know…

Sarada had been very clear when she had announced that she never wanted to meet either him or Sakura ever again.

But he wants to try anyway.

He clicks through his computer and pulls up his schedule. He finds the date of the ceremony. It's fully lined up. But he feels determined now, so he outfits the rest of the days with various agendas from that particular day's schedule so that he'd be able to take a leave. It takes a little bit of time and he knows that it's going to be harrowing as he emails the new schedule to his secretary, but he wants to try it out anyway.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For Sakura, it's not even a matter of choice.

The moment she sees the pressed and hung graduation gown on Sarada's feed, she already knows that she's going to be there. Yes, she wants to respect Sarada's wishes, which is why she decides that she'll be hiding in the background.

She'd spent the past few days alternately working herself to the bone to drinking her prized wine collection until there was nothing left while browsing through Sarada's social media feed in her spare time. There was a lot of snot and tears. There were a lot of hurt feelings. There were a lot of regrets. But more than anything else, there was an intense, undeniable urge to go and see her again.

So Sakura calls the school masquerading as a parent, finds out the exact day of the ceremony, and calls in a sick day at the hospital. She knows that it's completely unethical and she's probably way out of bounds and maybe even breaking some laws, but she's willing to take the risks. She just - she simply wants to see Sarada at least one more time, even if it is from far, far away.

Then she divides her time freaking out and feeling determined.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
Sasuke feels completely out of place when he arrives at Sarada's school. He drove his own car instead of the driver today, and it takes him quite some time to find a suitable parking spot. Then he sits in the car and has an existential crisis. On the one hand, he knows that this is the point of no return. He knows that there's no going back from here.

But he also knows that he doesn't necessarily want to anyway. There's this need inside of him and he needs to see things through if he ever wants to sleep another night.

So he gets out of the car and goes inside the school.

Everything is eerily calm inside. There are a few students lingering here and there, but for the most part, the grounds are empty. He idles at the main pathway and checks his watch. Almost as if he'd summoned them, the gates of the auditorium building open and there's a massive outpour of kids in graduation gowns with their parents.

He scans the crowd, walking without looking where he's going, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sarada when he stumbles into someone. He turns around, fully intending to apologize, but the words die on his tongue because…it's Sakura.

She's dressed in a white wrap dress and she's wearing oversized sunglasses like his own that hide her eyes, but he can tell – maybe from instinct, maybe from experience – that her eyes are wide as saucers behind them. He's initially taken aback as well, but it quickly dissipates and his insides settle with a feeling of knowing.

Of course, she'd be here.

It only made sense.

Both of them awkwardly shuffle and look anywhere but at each other, and as always, she's the one who breaks the silence. "What are you doing here?" she asks, finally catching his eyes.

He silently stares at her without saying a thing because she should know. She always does.

She doesn't disappoint.

Her lips purse in understanding and she lets out a little sigh.

That's when they hear a happy little shriek and both of them whip in the direction of it, inherently recognizing the sound of Sarada's happy laughter as she throws herself in a boy's arms and he whirls her around.

It's such a joyous moment and yet Sasuke can tell that it makes Sakura feel just as bereft as him.

It also hits uncomfortably close to home because once upon a time, they too, had been very young and in love.

They linger together, silently observing the scene, and there comes a moment when Sarada parts from the boy's arms to – his heart stutters painfully at the sight –what seems like her parents – that she almost catches sight of them. Sasuke is fully prepared to confront her. He doesn't yet know what he'll say, but he's confident that he wants to meet her.

What he doesn't expect is for Sakura to forcefully drag him behind a nearby tree.

"What the fuck?" he asks furiously, but she's busy looking around the tree to see if the coast is clear.

When she turns back, she's looks equal parts incredulous and seething. "No, Sasuke-kun – what the fuck right back at you!"

At his skeptical look, she says, "We don't want her to see us!"

As that has been his express plan, he can only say, "We don't?"

"Of course!" she snaps.

"Why?"

She looks exasperated that she has to even explain. "Because she specifically told us that we should never meet again!"

Sasuke is just about to retaliate, but like always, she seems to know his mind even better than himself because she says, "She doesn't want to see us! She really doesn't want to see us! And if she does – today, right now – it's going to ruin her entire day! Do you really want that to happen?"

And as conflicted as Sasuke feels, he finds in his heart that he doesn't. He honestly doesn't want that.

She must see in his face that she's convinced him because she immediately returns back to peeping, and reluctantly Sasuke follows suit. They both watch, shoulders slumped in solidarity, as Sarada laughs with her friends and takes pictures with her parents.

There's a small close call where she almost catches them, but Sasuke pulls Sakura back just in time. Annoyed, he pulls a handkerchief out of his pocket and shoves it at her.

"What?" she asks, looking bewildered, and he sighs in frustration before whipping the cloth open in one quick motion, folding it diagonally and holding it out to her again.

When she still looks perplexed, he arranges his expression in that of utmost annoyance and says, "Your hair – it's extremely notable."

Comprehension finally dawns on her face and she quickly swipes the handkerchief from his hand. But then she looks at it uncertainly and he can't help it – he just takes it and wraps it over her head himself.

She looks surprised, but he's already looking at Sarada again. A second later, he feels her do the same.

And so, they stand silently and watch from the sidelines as Sarada laughs, cheers, and receives hugs from everyone around her. She looks like a happy kid. It relieves some of the pressure in his chest and he finds himself rubbing involuntarily at his heart. He watches on, not exactly feeling destitute, but it's a feeling that comes quite close. Beside him, Sakura's shoulders are just as drooped and she's wearing wistfulness and mourning like a shroud.

It's that moment – it's exactly that moment when he realizes it. She was telling the truth. Why else would she ever look so dismal? He feels the dreadfulness of that revelation settling over him.

But he doesn't have time to poke this particular wound because at that moment Sarada spots them. Well, he thinks. It was only a matter of time. He feels only the slightest bit alarmed because she looks quite indignant as she stomps towards them, and beside him, Sakura seems to be panicking.

She gives him a wide-eyed pleading look and even after all these years, he finds himself caving. But for once, their bodies don't seem to be in sync. As Sakura tries to flee to the right, Sasuke tries to do the same in the other direction. They bump and Sakura stumbles. He barely manages to catch her wrist in time before Sarada is upon them.  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sarada feels positively livid as she looks at them.

Both of them are wearing ridiculously large sunglasses and there's a bandana like…thing covering Sakura's head. What, did they think she wouldn't recognize them?

"Dude," she says, trying to get a grip on her temper. "What the hell?"

They stand stock still, looking guilty as charged. Sarada crosses her arms and taps her foot on the grass, appraising them with steadily mounting anger and waiting for them to explain themselves. Maybe she does feel a little resentful, she realizes. All the previous joyfulness of the day is slowly but surely leeching out of her now.

Sakura cracks first. She looks like the type who just always has to explain herself, Sarada observes. "We were just here to see you," she says. "We weren't going to interfere," she explains. "We just – wanted to look," she finishes desperately.

Final. Nail. On the coffin. Great.

Sarada's fury has reached the point where if she were a kettle, she'd be letting out steam now. She sputters, expression going from disdainful to angry to furious in a split second before settling on contempt. "You know what?" she says. "Suck. My. Dick."

Both of them look positively astonished. They stand as still as statues looking at her with matching expressions of flustered shock, which only manages to rile her up even more. "Don't you understand?" she asks them. "It means: leave. Row a boat to Rome. Whatever. Just don't come to me again!"

Sakura looks pained now and Sasuke's shoulders have hunched a little. Their speechlessness only makes her feel violent. She supposes she could cut them a little slack, but she's really not in the mood now. Maybe if they'd reached out in a civilized manner, she'd have given them a chance. But this – this interruption on her privacy (how did they even know which school she went to anyway much less her graduation day) makes her feel absolutely vehement!

That's when Boruto comes over. Sarada feels instinctively calmer as he wraps an arm around her shoulder. He carefully assesses the two of them, and says, "Is this Uterus and Sperm Doner?"

Sakura looks like she's been slapped in the face and Sasuke, too, looks positively jarred.

Sarada feels a little twinge of bad when she sees the two of them flinch, but she's not in the business of making good with the two people who'd basically abandoned her. She doesn't let logic poke its head in. She's liking the anger at the moment. Maybe later, she'll let the regret seep in. Boruto can be a little savage when he needs to be, and right now, she feels a little grateful for it. Just a little.

Cool, quiet, and unruffled, Boruto gives the two of them a disdainful once-over. Then he looks at Sarada, gives her a reassuring smile, and says, "Come on. Your parents are waiting."

He turns her around and Sarada feels a little wretched as she walks back to Kakashi and Shizune, who'd been very deliberately and very patiently waiting for her a small distance away.  
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
tbc


End file.
